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| Friday, Sep 19, 2008
“Public-funded institutes vital to higher education”
The big challenge before the country is to expand facilities
for higher education, says Jairam Ramesh
ENLIGHTENING VIEWS: Minister of State for Commerce, Industry
and Power Jairam Ramesh lighting the traditional lamp at a
function at SRM University in Kattankulathur on Thursday to
mark the inauguration of The Hindu Business Line Club for
academic year 2008-09. University Chancellor T.R. Pachamuthu
and S.A. Bhat, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Overseas
Bank, are also in the picture.
Tambaram: Higher education institutes, funded by the State and
managed by the private sector, are needed for the expansion
of higher education in India, Minister of State for Commerce,
Industry and Power Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.
Speaking after inaugurating The Hindu Business Line Club programmes
for academic year 2008-09 at SRM University at Kattankulathur,
Mr. Ramesh said the whole country could replicate the Kerala
model of 60 per cent of primary schools being funded by the
State and managed by the private sector.
“Public funding is important to ensure quality and private
management for excellence,” he said. “The big challenge
before the country, which aspires to become a super power, is
to expand facilities for higher education. Private institutions
have an important role to play in extending higher education
to the weaker sections.”
Pointing out that only 8 per cent of the college-going age group
were studying in colleges and universities, Mr. Jairam Ramesh
said the figure was lower among the Scheduled Castes (5 per
cent), the Scheduled Tribes (1.5 per cent) and religious minorities
(3.5 per cent).
He himself was a product of the Indian Institute of Technology,
he said, appealing to all sections to give up the obsession
with such elite institutions that had “done more to the
American economy than the Indian economy.” Many private
colleges and universities that admitted students from diverse
backgrounds produced students who were the foundation for India’s
economic transformation.
A majority of the technical institutions in India are in the
four big States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Maharashtra. And a majority of the students in the leading private
universities in Tamil Nadu are from outside the State, especially
from the northern and eastern India, including Bihar and Jharkhand,
where the educational system had “collapsed,” he
said, hoping that private universities would soon be established
in those States too.
Lauding Business Line for not being carried away by the events
in the past 15 years, he said the newspaper presented a “well
rounded picture of the economy, and not just information about
Sensex and IT.”
“Technically sound”
S.A. Bhat, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Overseas Bank,
said a majority of the nationalised banks were thriving on the
business of older generation, and there was a notion that these
banks were not technically sound to cater to the needs of the
youth. “I want to dispel this notion: nationalised banks
today are equipped technically.” Only government banks
came forward to lend loans to students for higher education.
N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, listed seven important features
that characterised an institution. The first was academic curriculum
and programmes, conducting of examinations, whether they were
held once a year or continuous assessments.
The second was a good faculty, the institutions’ ability
to attract talented people. The third feature, Mr. Ram said,
was students, and the fourth, infrastructure: pleasant campus,
good hostels and libraries. “Facilities at SRM University
are the most impressive,” he said. And getting good placements
for students was an important feature followed by its linkages
with other educational institutions and the industry. Finally,
vision was the most important feature for an institution to
make education accessible to the youth, given that millions
in India still lived below the poverty line. Education should
be of quality and at the same time accessible, excellent and
affordable, he said.
Chancellor T.R. Pachamuthu spoke. P. Sathyanarayanan, Vice-Chancellor,
recalled the institution’s association with The Business
Line Club since 2004.
K. Venugopal, Joint Editor, Business Line, proposed a vote of
thanks.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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